Spartan Talk: Year 7

Before I go into an emotional rant about what this comic means to me, I want to jump straight to the important news. I usually use the anniversary marks to reveal cool surprises. Sometimes a new story arc, or a new art style, or both. This time, I am doing something unique in honor of the 7 year anniversary, but it can be good news or bad news.

Basically, I am putting the comic on a hiatus. Not because of some personal reason. This isn’t one of those things where a comic artist has some personal life shit pop up and they disappear for years. No, this hiatus is for the benefit of the comic itself. Basically, I’m not making the progress on the new site update that I want to be making and I’m sick of going in the circle of promising to have it done by a certain point and then making no real progress. So I’m taking the time I would put into making new comics to get the site development finished.

How long will this take?

The timeline I’m giving myself to launch the new site update is New Years eve. If this changes, you will know.

So no comics at all until then?

Not quite. Come October, depending on how things are looking, I may pause site development to drop some comic content, and then get right back on the development train. Don’t want to let the comic making skills get rusty.

I will also be regularly dropping blog updates as I work on it. I may draw up some gags to go with those.

Can we help?

Yes. I may launch a beta of the site at some point and I will need people to test it out. Let me know if you want to test that, and I’ll give you a link to the dev site when the beta is ready.

When does the hiatus start?

Now.

OKAY if there are any more questions, ask away.

TIME FOR AN EMOTIONAL RANT ABOUT WHAT THIS COMIC MEANS TO ME!

I owe so much to this comic. It helped me learn the web development skills that got me into the great career field I’m in now. It brought me to comic con, helped me meet really cool people and eventually get into cosplay.

I’ve been through so much since starting this comic. I’ve hit the lowest lows I’ve ever hit, and I fully expect I’ll hit some even lower lows before it’s all said and done. But even at my most depressed, no matter how broken I’ve felt, this comic has been my one constant.

At times where I’ve been so blinded by grief that I forget the things in this world that make it so beautiful, when I would cut myself off from my friends, limit communication and just want to sleep as long as I could, for some damn reason there was still always the motivation to get up, turn on my PC, plug in my tablet and make a comic.

My relationship with my comic is a strained one. It’s flawed. The art can be better. The jokes aren’t always hard hitters. The writing and characters could use more depth. And even if I achieve the best possible version of this comic I can possibly make, I feel like it’d still only be half as good as something half-assed from the rest of my friends in the web-comic world would create.

So like, I guess a quarter as good as one of my friend’s comics.

I digress. Despite all the self doubt comparing myself to others can cause me, I couldn’t quit my comic if I wanted to. And I’ve wanted to, many many times. It’s not perfect. But it’s mine. And it gives me a chance to entertain you, any of you reading this. That’s the best part, honestly.

Working on this comic has saved me from the worst life could throw at me, and has lead to some of my best moments. I can’t wait to see where it takes me next.

Discussion (2) ¬

Hi there, I’ve commented a few times over the years, usually about random stuff like panel layout. I try to avoid commenting online due to the negative feedback it usually garners, but I felt the need to tell you what your comic has been in my life (sorry for taking so long to get to that part). I discovered your comic when the pull string Tartarus issue was featured on the bungie website for halo reach, back in 2012, and haven’t stopped since. Thank you for your years of hard work, I can’t imagine how much effort it takes to create a comic, how much time, especially when you were releasing three a week. It isn’t lost on me and I thank you for letting me hear and see your voice through your comics. I love your comics, I used to stay up late for every issue they came out just so I could read them as soon as possible. Although I don’t do that any more(damn job makine tired) your voice and perspective on the world is what has kept me reading through the years(plus you love halo). I hope you realize how amazing your work is, I’ve been a faithful reader for six years, through my teens. It’s not often something on the internet can hold the attention of a teenager, but your comic did. Even if you decide to end the comic(please don’t) just know that there is one life in this giant world you made better with your comic, Thank you.

Wow! You’ve been with me for a long time, and I super appreciate it. I am slowly but surely working to return to the three comics a week schedule! The best part of making this comic is entertaining awesome people like you, so thank you for your comment and for reading!

All content created by me! Austin Verburg, All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized use of any content is discouraged and will result in an energy sword stab to the face, followed by my lawyer’s legal foot up your ass. By reading this text, you are personally agreeing to go out and bring me tacos. Also, Robert Rose is now legally your property. Do with him what you will.